The Republicans (Les Républicains) party of France has introduced a bill in the National Assembly to prohibit the production and marketing of cell-based meat in the country, reports European Biotechnology.

The long-standing governing party is doing the same as Italy with its motion and is calling for "a ban on the production, processing and marketing of cell-based meat".

If the parliament approves bill number 1965, a blocking minority in the committee responsible for EU authorisation is within reach: Italy recently became the first country in the world to ban the production, tasting and marketing of cell-based meat products, citing the need to protect its own agricultural production and food culture. Croatia is currently working on a similar draft and Austria is also rumoured to sympathise with the idea.

“In the interests of human health, animal health, and the environment, it is forbidden to produce, process, and market synthetic meat anywhere in France,” reads the proposed law. The bill’s proponents argue that cell-based meat companies promise to replace low-quality imported meat with a highly processed alternative full of “questionable additives” produced in obscure conditions.

The background to the initiative is likely to be the protection of the meat industry – France is the largest beef exporter in Europe.

The parliamentary group bases its argument on an initiative launched in mid-January 2023 by the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, which aimed to investigate "products and processes in the cell industry".

In its report "Cellular foods: Being vigilant to better manage and control the technology," published in mid-April, the mission emphasises its "anthropological, ethical and cultural opposition to the development of cellular foods".

The sustainable benefits of cell-based products does not impact France's Agriculture Minister Julien Denormandie's position. The petitioners quote a parliamentary speech by Denormandie: "Cellular meat, which I also call "paillasse meat", i.e. a leg of lamb without lamb, a chicken breast without chicken, is in my view a total loss of orientation for our society. Only unscrupulous science could consider meat from the laboratory, from the test tube, as a solution.”

Pauline Grimmer, policy officer at GFI Europe, said: “This bill is a needless attack on consumer choice and local start-ups and would cut France off from investment and job opportunities. It would also undermine efforts to tackle climate change just as the UN Environment Programme and countries around the world recognise cultivated meat’s potential.”

#France